75% MX Clear (Sprit PCB) custom mahogany case

[hermith]

Just a quick worklog:

"Specs":
MX Clears, except Esc and Enter which are MX Green, and right alt that's MX White because I suck at counting.
Sprit's 75% layout from the geekhack groupbuy.
Mahogany wooden case.

Pictures:

Popping in the switches. I decided on PCB mount due to the costs.


Testing the layout. I'd like to have the keycaps as "set-friendly" as possible, but I ended up with the unorthodox 1.75u right shift because I wanted the arrow-cluster.


Soldering. This went quickerthan expected, helps to have a friend that has access to a proper iron (heats up from 200 to 400C in less than two seconds).


First two rows soldered.


Soldering complete.


Checking the angle on the bottom plate of the case. Think this might be birch. My dad the carpenter helped me with this part.


Glued on the 4 edges, these are the parts that will show and are in mahogany that we found some leftover stubs of.


After the edge has been cut to the same angle as the bottom plate + some sanding.


All riser screws in place. These are just normal motherboard riser screws.


Zomg! It lines up!


Sorry for the blur. It feels a bit high, so a few mm is gonna be sanded of the bottom.


The finish after two strokes of lacquer.


Still feels a bit high. But I'll know after a couple of weeks of use if it's too high.


The edge to cap distance seems very good.


Done kinda! Still needs stabilizers but you can't tell by this picture.

Remaining:

• Some switches are slightly crooked, need to straighten them up
• Wait for and mount stabilizers.
• Aquire a decent keycap set, I'll use the black blanks from my Das until I can afford this step.

[AKmalamute]

While I have neither the tools nor the experience to attempt something more than a plank of plywood unadorned, I can appreciate that this looks serviceable and sound.

Also, congrats on getting the under-appreciated 75% layout. I think if it were me I might seek out a plate, but it looks like there's allowance for a lot of standoffs so maybe it will be firm enough for NaNoWriMo's late night typing marathons.

Y'know, assuming you participate in off the wall novel writing.

[hermith]

Added a picture with a full keycap set. Open to suggestions to keycap sets that would go nicely with this kind of wood.

[digi]

Man, you did an excellent job on that wood case and your build, thanks for sharing!

[lightsout714]

Very nice case. Clean work

[infiniti]

That's a nice case!  Thanks for sharing!

[Lain1911]

If someone would be wanting to make a wooden custom case for a poker 2 what would the specs be?

[swill]

Nice.  Good job, that looks great.  That is very similar to how my case design is constructed. 

[swill]

What do you think about the height of the front of the keyboard?  Do you like the little extra height?  I have been prototyping my case with 1/4" (5mm) plexiglass and I find that the bottom row keys sit just a bit higher than on my Filco bottom row.  I am going to do some prototypes with 1/8" aluminum which will bring the height down to the Filco level bottom row.

I am waiting for my granite set to finally take pictures of the different setups I have built so far. 

[sprit]

Beautiful Wood Case!!   


Do you use 3mm bolts? 

[TheSoulhunter]

Really nice!

[hermith]

Do you use 3mm bolts? 

Yes I used default motherboard riser screws as there were the most accessible ones. If I had anyone lower I would have used them.

What do you think about the height of the front of the keyboard?  Do you like the little extra height?  I have been prototyping my case with 1/4" (5mm) plexiglass and I find that the bottom row keys sit just a bit higher than on my Filco bottom row.  I am going to do some prototypes with 1/8" aluminum which will bring the height down to the Filco level bottom row.

I am waiting for my granite set to finally take pictures of the different setups I have built so far. 

Actually, your wooden wedge was the inspiration for how this case was constructed, that and the MB riser screws!

As for the height; I've been using it for a couple of days now and when I'm typing the height is OK, but for longer sessions of gaming on the WASD cluster I think it might be a bit too tall. I can still shave 1-2mm off the bottom and if I find some shorter riser screws I can do a couple of mm off the top as well. But I don't have the tools for this accesible at the moment so I'll probably leave it as it is for a while unless it becomes a problem.

[sprit]

Yes!   PCB raiser bolts on weakness as You say  : the Height.   
the min. height is 5mm usually.
So may need a palmrest. 

[Zephitos]

Oh.... awesome wood case 

[swill]

Yes!   PCB raiser bolts on weakness as You say  : the Height.   
the min. height is 5mm usually.
So may need a palmrest.

What do you think about the height of the front of the keyboard?  Do you like the little extra height?  I have been prototyping my case with 1/4" (5mm) plexiglass and I find that the bottom row keys sit just a bit higher than on my Filco bottom row.  I am going to do some prototypes with 1/8" aluminum which will bring the height down to the Filco level bottom row.

I am waiting for my granite set to finally take pictures of the different setups I have built so far. 

Actually, your wooden wedge was the inspiration for how this case was constructed, that and the MB riser screws!

As for the height; I've been using it for a couple of days now and when I'm typing the height is OK, but for longer sessions of gaming on the WASD cluster I think it might be a bit too tall. I can still shave 1-2mm off the bottom and if I find some shorter riser screws I can do a couple of mm off the top as well. But I don't have the tools for this accesible at the moment so I'll probably leave it as it is for a while unless it becomes a problem.

Yes, the height is something I have had to address with my design too.  I have addressed it by not using risers at all and just putting a 1/8 inch silicon sheet between the pcb and the back plate (or wood wedge) and then doing a small cutout in the back plate for the mini usb plug since it is the tallest component.  This has dramatically improved the height issue.  I realize now that I am writing this that I do not have any pictures or description of that cutout in my minimal case design.  I will have to take some proper pictures of that and add it to my minimal case design thread.

Edit: here is a potato pic of what I am talking about. This was my first attempt to do this so the execution was very poor. Don't judge me.

[sprit]

Yes!  Sure.  The Case design is quite challenging.

[csmith1991]

I'm sorry, but I have to do this...

I've got many first edition e-books, and my keyboard smells of rich mahogany.